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Knitted Merveille du Jour Moth

Knitted Merveille du jour moth

I’ve just completed my first moth of 2016. I started it last November but then Christmas jewellery orders went a little crazy and I had no time for mothing.

It feels great to be knitting moths again and I wanted to share some photos of this one in progress. It’s the Merveille du Jour Moth (Griposia aprilina). It’s common across Britain in September and October. It has a wingspan of around 4-5cm but mine is closer to 25cm!

I started off with my pencils and graph paper and got stuck in.

merveille-in-progress

Progress is made with 2.25mm knitting needles and Shetland wool

Knitted Merveille du jour moth

I love stitching the eyes on.

Knitted Merveille du jour moth

The finished moth!

Knitted Merveille du jour moth

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National Moth Week

National Moth Week From the 18th-26th July 2015 it’s National Moth Week.
“National Moth Week celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths. “Moth-ers” of all ages and abilities are encouraged to learn about, observe, and document moths in their backyards, parks, and neighborhoods. National Moth Week is being held, worldwide, during the last full week of July. National Moth Week offers everyone, everywhere a unique opportunity to become a Citizen Scientist and contribute scientific data about moths.”

Io Moth close upAs you can imagine I’m quite excited about all this moth activity. Having only discovered the beauty of moths last year there’s still so much more to learn. The list of moths that I’m planning to knit is getting quite daunting…! So I’ve decided to knit as many as I can for moth week. As the NMW logo features an Io Moth I’m working on one of those now. Here’s a sneaky close up of it’s eyespot.

I’ve added a page of Moths where you can see all the one’s I’ve completed so far.

Here are all the Events taking place during National Moth week if you want to get involved too.

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I Knit Fandango

Max's World Stall at I Knit Fandango

It’s a little late but I thought I’d better let you know… I have a stall at the I Knit Fandango which is on today and tomorrow. Look for the Max’s World stall for all my moths and lots of jewellery.

The brand new Tatargina Moth, finished this week, has been delighting visitors!
The fair is jammed full of incredible yarn and all sorts of wooly goodness.

Click here for more details:
I Knit Fandango
15-16 May 2015 Royal Horticultural Halls, Lindley Hall, Westmister, London

tatargina-picta-moth

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The Moths

My exhibition of knitted moths opened on Friday and I wanted to share some pictures of the moths that are on show. If you want to take a closer look they will be on display until the 20th December. There is also a 2 metre moth but he deserves his own post…!

Six of the moths are available to buy as greeting cards.

Like a Moth in a Wool Shop
22nd November – 20th December 2014
Open Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6.30pm
Prick Your Finger, 260 Globe Road, London, E2 0JD

Luna Moth
Luna Moth
Footman Moth
Footman Moth
Garden Tiger Moth
Garden Tiger Moth
Ornate Tiger Moth
Ornate Tiger Moth
Squeaking Silk Moth
Squeaking Silk Moth
Banded Bagnest Moth
Banded Bagnest Moth
Fire Grid Burnet Moth
Fire Grid Burnet Moth
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Yarnwise Interview

Yarnwise Max AlexanderI had the great pleasure of being interviewed for Yarnwise magazine (issue 59) last month. We chatted about all things weird and wooly. They’ve kindly given me the article to share if you didn’t get a copy. You can read the full 5 page article here:

Yarnwise Interview – PDF Download

It was really interesting to talk about my various projects but I haven’t been able to read it back yet in case I said something ludicrous…!

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Knitting Octopus

Knitting OctopusI seem to have a bit of a thing for knitting octopuses at the minute. (2 here and 1 here!) I’m not sure why because I always get bored of the tentacles after I’ve done two or three. So I decided to make one that’s good at knitting in the hope that it’ll do some for me. This one is already much better at colourwork than I am!

When I made this I started with a couple of sketches so I thought I’d share them with some pictures of the making process too. You might notice the cunning use of an interchangeable knitting needle to fill the tentacles with stuffing.

Now available as a greeting card from my shop for £2.50.

UPDATE: 11.8.11 The much requested pattern is now available to buy! See more details on the ravelry pattern page or click below to buy it now.

The Knitting Octopus Pattern – £3

Click images to enlarge.

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Art Smart London

Max's World at Art Smart I had a great time last weekend at the Art Smart fair in London. Benoît did a fantastic job of giving the passers-by a fright hanging at the front of the stall. You might be able to spot a mysterious flying creature camouflaged in the roof of my stall. That’s Draco the Dragonfly and there’s now a gallery of pictures of him to see here. Thanks to everyone who came by and said hello, it was a lot of fun to see everyone’s reactions to my odd creatures.